


I'd Give It All

by GemmaRose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon Temporary Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Established Relationship, F/M, Illnesses, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Memory Loss, Rebirth, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 07:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12185217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: There is nothing Zarkon would not do for her, this she knows as certainly as her own name.





	I'd Give It All

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [ambivalentlangst](http://ambivalentlangst.tumblr.com) as part of the [VLD Lunar Ladies](http://vldlunarladies.tumblr.com) exchange!

She awoke to pain. Not agonizing, but all-encompassing, etched into every muscle and bone in her body. She gasped for breath, eyes flying open and darting around the familiar purple ceiling, barely registering the altenoid form at her bedside. She was in bed, the mattress cold at her side, Zarkon’s warmth nowhere to be found. Her fingers scrabbled at the sheets until they caught, and she fisted her hands in the soft, silken fabric. “We mu- we must-” her voice caught in her throat, thoughts scattering momentarily before she managed to make her vocal cords work again. “We must have it.” she gasped, limbs shaking uncontrollably. “Get back, get back, get back-”

A large, warm hand rested atop hers, as familiar as her own heartbeat. “What is it, my love?” Zarkon asked, his voice heavy with concern.

She groaned, and his hand tightened over hers. “Quinte- quintessence.” she rasped out, eyes flickering ever so briefly over to see her husband sitting at her bedside. “Quintessence, is life.” she gasped, sharp pains shooting through her body. “Into the- into the rift.” she moaned as fresh pain wracked her body, worse than training accidents, worse than birthing Lotor.

“How?” Zarkon asked, his hand leaving hers and tilting her head to face him. She couldn’t quite focus on his face, but every inch of him screamed with fear, concern, worry. She hated to see him worry.

“We mu- we must- we must have Voltron.” she mumbled. There were other ways, safer ways, but no faster ways. “Voltron. Voltron.” she repeated, gasping for breath, trying to search her husband’s face for understanding even as her eyes refused to focus on anything. Zarkon’s head bowed, his hand moving back to grip hers tightly. “It is the only way.”

“I know.” he murmured, pulling her hand from the sheets with ease and gripping it firmly. “I swear to you, Honerva, I will make them agree.” he promised, his voice low and solemn. “I will do whatever it takes to heal you.”

\---

The world shifted around her, and Honerva whimpered softly as she was lifted. Zarkon shushed her, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Do not worry, Honerva.” he murmured, carrying her out of the comfortably dim purple-lit shuttle and into harsh blue-white lights that made her flinch and moan. A hand tilted her head towards a pale surface, shadowed slightly and less blinding than the lights above, and she leaned into it as well as she was able. Zarkon was still speaking, his voice a soothing rumble that eased some of the pain which consumed her, and she let the words flow over her like water without absorbing a single one. The harsh light soon faded to a different purple, more blue in tint, and Honerva whimpered as the warm arms around her slid away to leave her laid out on a cold metal floor.

“Do not worry.” Zarkon soothed again, brushing her limp hair back from her sweaty forehead. “It is not far to Daibazaal. Soon, you will be well again. I swear it.”

Honerva managed a smile, and Zarkon bent over her to brush his lips over hers. “Quintessence.” she reminded him, her voice gone dry and brittle as dead leaves.

“As much as you could ever need.” he whispered back. “I cannot lose you.”

Honrva smiled, and let her eyes slide shut as her husband walked over to his seat. The Black Lion rumbled to life under his command, and the gentle vibrations of the floor felt almost like Kova’s worried purring. Time slipped by quickly, and before she knew it Zarkon was speaking again. Not to her this time, but to the other Paladins.

He called for them to form Voltron, and once the great robot was assembled he began to lie. He told them that quintessence was the key to closing the rift, that first it had to be widened, and then called for Alfor to summon Voltron’s sword. Light flooded the cockpit, searing pink through her closed eyelids, and Honerva whimpered briefly. Then a shadow fell over her, familiar arms sliding under her body, and she relaxed into Zarkon’s hold.

“Hold on, Honerva.” he whispered, sounding more distressed than she’d ever heard him. “Please, for me, hold on just another dobosh.” he cradled her against his broad chest with one arm as he descended a ladder, and ticks later the searing light was back. Only this time, it was accompanied by warmth. Gravity faded to nothing, and Zarkon held her out away from his body, letting the energy surround her utterly.

Quintessence. Pure, unfiltered, undiluted quintessence. Every breath she took sent warmth burning through her veins, her very cells shivering as they began to regenerate at an unnatural rate. Then the light dulled, and Zarkon screamed, and everything quickly went black.

\---

She woke to silence. Complete and total silence, not so much as a thought or breath to break it. Only the gentle pressure of fabric on her skin assured her that she was real, that she had form. She blinked, and discovered she had eyes. Deep purple filled her vision, so dark it was nearly black. Flexing her fingers and toes revealed that she had four functioning limbs, though they moved stiffly when she tried to uncover herself.

She managed to push the fabric from her head and sit up, and sucked in a sharp breath. She didn’t know where she was. She tried to stand, but her legs wouldn’t hold her weight, knees buckling and sending her sliding down the side of the slab she’d been laid atop. Where was she? How had she gotten here? Why had she been covered? Questions swirled in her mind, faster and faster with each new one that occurred to her. She trembled, curling in on herself and breathing quickly. She had no answers. Why did she think she should have answers? Who-

Who was she?

She stopped breathing, her entire body going still as stone. Who was she? She couldn’t remember anything from before waking up, but she somehow knew that she was clever, brilliant even. She knew all sorts of things, facts and figures, the math and science which made the universe itself work as it did. She flexed her fingers, and startled when deep purple light arced between them. That was- something she could do, apparently. She concentrated, and the dark light leapt between her hands, first as a direct single stream and then coalescing into a ball.

The magic held her gaze, its surface swirling before her eyes, and a not-voice echoed in her head. There were no words, not that she could define anyways, but she did her best to sound out the final impression it had left on her mind. Her lips shaped the syllables carefully, testing them out as she played the impression over in her head. When she exhaled, the word came with, her voice raspy and wavering.

“Haggar.”


End file.
